Reversible two-headed polishing element and housing therefor



Oct. 2, 1956 M FRANK 2,764,770

REVERSIBLE TWO-HEADED POLISHING ELEMENT AND HOUSING THEREFOR Filed May 11, 1954 INVENTOR zfierome M 173211 ATTORNEYS United States Patent REVERSIBLE TWO-HEADED POLISHING ELE- MENT AND HOUSHNG THEREFOR Jerome M. Frank, Beverly Hills, Califl, assignor to Knomark Manufacturing Co., Inc'., Kings County, N. Y a corporation of New York Application May 11, 1954, Serial No. 428,990

3 Claims. c1. 15-106) The present invention relates to .a two-headed brush assembly which can be used for polishing shoes, etc.

It is an object of the present inventionto improve the construction of such a brush assemblyin a manner that one head of the brush is .covered while the'oth'er head is in use.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a means of readily reversing the positions of the two heads of the present invention will become, apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter; it should be understood, however, that the detaile'd'description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications Within the spirit, and scope of the invention will become apparent tothose skilled in the art from this detailed description.

The two-headed brush assembly is shown by way of illustration in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the assembly showing the housing and the two-headed brush in closed relationship;

Figure 2 is a reduced side view of the assembly which is partially broken away in section and shows the brush extended out of the housing and about to be pivoted, the dotted lines showing the position as pivoting starts and the dash lines showing the brush after pivoting has commenced still further;

Figure 3 is an end view which is partially broken away in section;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary side view of the brush assembly illustrating the locking means.

Referring to the drawings which illustrate the preferred form of the invention, the two-headed brush assembly comprises a housing 10 having a top, two lateral parallel sides which are perpendicular to the top, a closed end which is also perpendicular to the top and an open end. The housing is adapted to cover one head of the brush when the other head is in use. Attached to each of the parallel sides of the housing and adjacent the open end there is disposed a pivot pin 12 comprising a head portion 14 and a shank portion 16. The two-headed brush 11 comprises a base or mid portion 18 having on each lateral side thereof a groove 20 extending for the greater part of the length thereof, attached to the top of the base are bristles 22 and attached to the bottom of the base are bristles 24. At each end of the base and substantially in the middle thereof is a locking member, preferably a spring clip 26, secured to the base by means of a screw or other suitable means.

'In operation, one head of the brush is concealed by the housing whenever the other brush head is in use. The two-headed brush is secured to the housing by means of the spring clip so that there is no danger of the brush disengaging the housing. Whenever it is desired to reverse the position of the two-headed brush, all that is necessary is to apply a slight pressure to the spring member to release it from engaging position with the housing, draw the brush out the full length of the groove and pivot it about the pivot pins, whereupon the spring clip on the other end of the brush engages the housing in a locking relationship and the second brush is then in position to be used.

The present brush assembly can be used, for example, in a polishing kit to replace the two brushes normally contained therein, one of the brushes, for example, being used to polish brown shoes and the other of the brushes tofipolish black shoes. In this connection, to indicate which brush is to be used, the spring clip on each end of the base can be differently colored, e. g., the spring clip on one end can be colored brown, to denote that it is in looking relationship with the housing when brown shoes are to be polished, and the spring clip on the other end of the base can be colored black, to denote that black shoes are to be polished whenever it is in lock-ing relationship with the housing.

The housing should be composed of a material with some resiliency so that, if it is desired to remove the particular two-headed brush employed and replace it by another, this can be readily done. Preferably, the housing is made of a light-weight metal, such as aluminum, titanium or magnesium, or an alloy with a large amount of one or more of these elements. Alternatively, the housing may be made of a plastic material, such as a vinyl resin, e. g., vinyl chloride or vinyl acetate polymer or vinyl chloride vinyl acetate copolymer, polystyrene, polyethylene or polymethyl methacrylate. In place of a thermoplastic material, the resin can be thermosetting, e. g., phenol formaldehyde, melamine formaldehyde, and urea formaldehyde. The use of a plastic material has the advantage that the pivot pins can be molded into the housing as a single unit. If the housing is made of a metal, this norm-ally cannot be done and a separate pivot pin must be secured to the housing in conventional manner. The base of the two-headed brush can be made of wood or metal or the same metals or plastics as the housing. It is desirable that the base be as thin as possible, e. g., /8 of an inch or less, in order to make the brush as compact as possible. In one form of the invention, two separate brush heads are attached to the base, one to the upper part of the base and the other to the lower part of the base. These brush heads can be made of any conventional bristle, either natural or synthetic. Among the latter can be noted nylon (polyhexamethylene adip'amide) and polystyrene. The bristle on the opposite sides can be colored in contrasting colors in order to distinguish them from each other and to avoid using the wrong brush. If desired, rather than using two brush heads of separate bristles, it is possible to employ a single set of bristles in which one end is exposed on the top side of the base and the other end is exposed on the bottom side of the base, the bristles being locked into the base by constriction means, e. g., if the base is made of plastic, it can be molded around the center portion of the set of bristles.

The spring clip is normally made of steel or similar metal and is secured to the base of the brush heads by any conventional means. However, when the base is made of plastic, the spring clip can also be made of the same plastic in a unitary molding step. Alternatively, instead of having a spring clip on each end of the base, a single spring clip can be attached to the end wall of the housing which spring clip can lock the two-headed brush by engaging the bottom surface of the mid portion when the brush is in position to be used. This method of locking is non-preferred, as it does not give as secure a locking as the preferred method, wherein a spring clip is attached to both ends of the two-headed brush.

There are numerous advantages in a two-headed brush of the present assembly over old brushes in the art. Thus, by means of the present invention, it is possible to merely draw the brush out the full length of the groove and pivot it, whereupon the new brush head is exposed and locked into position simultaneously. Consequently, it is desirable to always leave one end of the housing open. It is preferred to have the groove on the brush portion rather than on the housing, as this procedure insures a more compact and neater appearing article. It is also preferred to have a groove in the brush portion rather than to have a slot in the housing, since, when there is a slot in the housing, undesired articles can be caught in the slot. This is particularly true if the brush is carried in a conventional polishing kit which also contains cloths, etc. The locking means insures that there will be no movement of the brush when it is in brushing position and this is an essential feature of this invention. In order to make the unit as compact as possible, the housing member should be just wide and high enough that the brush can conveniently slide therein and without any danger of the pivot pins being disengaged from the grooves. As is apparent from the drawings, when the brush is in use, the hands of the operator will not come in contact with the brush per se and, hence, will not be soiled through contact with the brush.

Iclaim:

1. A compact polishing implement comprising a twoheaded polishing element and a housing for one of said heads, said polishing element being operatively connected to said housing and including a base having a top, a bottom, two lateral sides and two ends and having attached to the top bristles extending upwardly and having attached to the bottom bristles extending downwardly and having on each lateral side a groove for the greater part of the horizontal length thereof and being substantially in the middle thereof, said grooves being adapted to receive a pivot pin, and having at each end and substantially in the middle thereof a spring clip adapted to lock the polishing element securely to the housing when the polishing element is in closed relationship with said housing, said housing having a top side, two lateral parallel sides substantially perpendicular to said top side, a closed end also perpendicular to said top sidea-nd an open end and having pivot pins on each side adjacent the open end thereof, said pivot pins fitting in the grooves in said polishing element, said open end of the housing being adapted to permit the polishing element to be extended out substantially its entire length, whereby the polishing element can be so extended and then pivoted so that the head of the polishing element covered by said housing can be ireversedwhile simultaneously locking the polishing element with said housing by means of one of said clips.

2. The polishing implement of claim 1, wherein said housing is made of a metal.

3. The polishing implement of claim 1, wherein said housing and said polishing element are both made of plastic and said bristles at the top and said bristles at the bottom are formed from the same bristles, said bristles being locked into the base by constriction at their mid portion by said base.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,166,296 Wolfe et a1. Dec. 28, 1915 1,431,554 WilS011 Oct. 10, 1922 2,370,414 Ostran'der Feb. 27, 1945 2,682,070 Lemoine June 29, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 22,576 Great Britain of 1903 220,796 Great Britain Aug. 28, 1924 381,857 Great Britain Oct. 13, 1932 

